TOXIC EFFECTS OF COSMETICS ON THE USERS : A REVIEW

ABSTRACT

According to FDA cosmetic products are intended to be applied to the human body for cleansing, beautifying, promoting attractiveness or altering the appearance without affecting the bodys structure or functions. The cosmetic industries use thousands of synthetic chemicals in their products in everything from lipstick and lotion to shampoo and shaving cream. These harmful synthetic compounds are sodium lauryl sulfate, phthalates, nitrosamines, paraben preservatives, mercury, lead and many more.The presence of these chemicals cause toxicity in cosmetic products and are harmful for human body because the skin of human being is extremely permeable so these products are absorbed by skin. Some chemicals may penetrate the skin in significant amounts especially when left on skin for long periods as in case of facial makeup. Cosmetic products which have the harmful synthetic compounds cause allergy like skin irritation, eye irritation, skin sensitization and photosensitization, infertility, genotoxicity, cytotoxicity, clastogenicity and others. Synthetic chemicals which result in genotoxic or clastogenic effects are due to gene mutation like insertion, deletion, duplication etc. and can cause cancer. Genotoxicity of different synthetic chemicals have already been reported. Using microbial assays we can evaluate the genotoxicity and cytotoxicity of different cosmetic products having synthetic chemicals